Fort Stevens National Cemetery is one of the smaller units under the jurisdiction of the Veterans Administration. One of the newest units, the cemetery transferred over from the Army in 2020. Although one of the smallest cemeteries within the National Cemetery system, there still are openings for new burials.
POST CEMETERY
The national cemetery movement arose during the heat of the American Civil War amongst the horrible loss of life during the brotherly conflict. Even before the Civil War a need for cemeteries on the various Army posts scattered far and wide across the county existed. And after the harsh waves of the Civil War subsided, the same need to the many posts the Army reclaimed and resettled along the frontier.
A need for a Fort Stevens cemetery at became apparent as early as 1866 – the fort established three years prior – just in case someone would die. The nearest cemetery, Clatsop Plains, was over seven miles away. Two years later, May 1868, a post cemetery was established on the south edge of the fort.
EARLY BURIALS
Just in time, too, for in the same month, Private August Stahlberger died in a creek two miles from the fort. Cause of death listed as drowning while under the influence of alcohol, but also “death caused by blows from a person or persons unknown”.
Nine months later, Stahlberger gained company. Private Bernard McCormick, Company M 1st US Cavalry, was transiting between duty stations when he drowned 14 April 1869.
Drowning was a common cause of death noted for those buried here. Not only soldiers. Harold Morton, a US Coast Guard Surfman, drowned 7 September 1937.
As Fort Stevens slowly expanded in the late 19th century, the cemetery’s ground – “on a sand ridge from which it is desired to obtain sand for parapet fill for additional gun emplacements” August 1898 – became desired for more than a place of repose. Quartermaster Second Lieutenant Edward Sarrat, 3rd Artillery noted the cemetery being small with only twenty-one graves. A new location further south soon found with the cost of preparation and exhumation for only $500. The cemetery moved here 18 February 1905, though the list of names only totaled twenty.
A NEW CEMETERY
An iron fence added in 1913 and the Fort Stevens cemetery designated to be the final resting place for all posts within the Artillery District of Columbia including the forts on the other side of the Columbia River in Washington. This added at least fifty graves from Fort Canby including bodies of lightkeepers at Cape Disappointment Light House and family members. John Boyd was one of the first keepers dying in September 1865. The graves from Fort Canby found in the southwest corner of the cemetery.
Several unknown graves exist on the far southwest edge of the cemetery. These graves hold victims who washed ashore from shipwrecks. There is one unknown “US Soldier” grave. For the most part, records have been consistently kept for the graves whether local soldiers or burials exhumed from across the river.
Graves at the cemetery lie in a north-south direction instead of the normal east-west – “so the dead can see the sunrise”. The reason being practical due to slope of the land.
DROWNING AND MURDER
Among the pre-20th century dead, First Lieutenant Joshua L. Knapp of the 4th US Infantry Regiment was the highest ranking, drowning 19 April 1877. Knapp was a 1873 graduate of West Point. He was returning from Astoria when his boat capsized with three others. It took two weeks before John Moore’s body washed ashore with Knapp’s coming later. Knapp’s grave used to lie next to a large tree that is no more. He is one of several who have received new headstones because of changes over time.
Private James Crawford was another murder victim, his body discovered on the north jetty of Grays Harbor. Originally thought to have drowned, after exhumation from a cemetery in Hoquiam and the cause of death changed to strangluation. Shortly afterwards, a pool of blood was found at Fort Stevens and evidence the body had been dragged through the bushes to a boat on the river.
TWENTIETH CENTURY
As elsewhere during World War I, Spanish Flu victims occurred here. Private Lorenzo Butler of the 52nd Company 13th Battalion Depot Brigade was a native of South Dakota. He entered the Army in Blaine, Washington 6 September 1918. A month later, Butler died of complications of the flu 9 October 1918.
Private George Berger memorialized by his comrades served with Company M of the 3rd US Artillery which served for quite some time here. One year before his 1899 death, Berger had served in the Santiago de Cuba campaign, coming to the Far West after its conclusion. Several other companies of the 3rd went on to serve in the Philippines.
There were a few burials in the 1940’s with renewed activity around the fort during World War II. The fort was deactivated after the war and the cemetery transferred to the City of Hammond at the end of 1949. In 1956, the Army reacquired the cemetery, administered from Fort Lewis, maintaining it as an active cemetery until 2020 when the National Cemetery Administration – Department of Veterans Affairs took over.
POST ACTIVE FORT
A long period from 1950 until 1970 went by without a burial. Two local soldiers killed in Vietnam were buried followed by others. Robert Armistead Williams Jr from Rockaway Beach died near Binh Thuan about 20 miles northeast of Saigon when the helicopter he flew in took ground fire 4 December 1970. An E-4 at the time of his death but promoted posthumously to sergeant. Also, posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, a Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. Williams was 19 years old.
Private First-Class Mark Allan Matter died at the age of 20 1 October 1970. In his last note he asked that none of his brothers follow him to Vietnam. The family name had been paid for in blood. Matter died from a booby-trap 60 mm mortar round 6 km from Que Son south of Da Nang. Drafted, he came from Longview, Washington.
The post-active fort burials come from retired men and women who lived along the Oregon Coast. Several field grade officers and their wives have found resting places here in more recent times. A handful of colonels, majors and lieutenant colonels lie here. Brigadier General Robert W. Steele is the man with the highest rank.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Brumm originally enlisted into the US Army Air Force in December 1942. He followed a history of piloting B-25’s out of Corsica during World War II as a test pilot in the Air Force. In Vietnam, Brumm flew armed reconnaissance missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and northern Vietnam. He gained four Distinguished Flying Crosses – two during combat and a host of other medals.
NATIONAL CEMETERY
Changes with the new administration include a new gate and iron fencing. Landscaping seems to be a little better. Old trees have been removed, probably a result of storms. Broken headstones mended. The cemetery administration still comes from afar – Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, opposed to Fort Lewis in Washington when the cemetery was still maintained by the Army. Unlike at Willamette National Cemetery, upright headstones are found here unlike the ground level headstones in the Portland cemetery.
The cemetery was one of only two active Army cemeteries in the Pacific Northwest until 2020 – Fort Vancouver being the other. Both cemeteries remain open today as National Cemeteries. Eligibility for burial in a military cemetery is the same as in a National Cemetery. Fort Stevens includes almost 280 burials today.